


That one time Lena invites Kara to a movie, and it is, most certainly, NOT a date

by charstar782



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Supercorpweek2k17, probably still a short one, sort of au in that it doesn't entirely follow the show's timeline, then turned into another chapter story, this was one hundred percent supposed to be another drabble, very romcom-esque, who knows anything is possible, whoopsie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2018-12-18 22:27:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11884125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charstar782/pseuds/charstar782
Summary: Lena Luthor doesn't go to the movies. But one time, she does, and maybe Jess laughs at her a little bit, and maybe Lena's palms sweat a lot, but maybe, just maybe, the movies were worth the wait because when she goes for the first time, she gets to go with Kara.And if Kara eats three large tubs of popcorn in one sitting before the movie is half over, Lena doesn't question it...mostly.





	1. a not-date date

**Author's Note:**

> "Heat of the Night" by Coleman Hell is a song I'm listening to right now, and maybe you all should too.
> 
> un-beta'd, it's almost midnight again....seems I have a new habit. Please enjoy, and let me know what you think!!

Lena Luthor didn’t go to the movies.

 

She didn’t socialize with the little people - not because she didn’t want to, but because she never even considered it. She was brought up as a Luthor, someone who dined in high end restaurants, exclusively, got coffee at the classiest place on the block and when in need of entertainment, simply set aside her work and picked up the next intellectually fulfilling book on her list.  

 

Movies were out of the question. _What_ would her mother say.

 

….which was half of the reason she was so strongly considering it. Fuck Lillian Luthor. She’d tried to destroy the world, basically.

 

Lena let out a huge sigh and swiveled her desk chair towards the window, resting the pen she was holding against her bottom lip.

 

Now, who to go to the movies with.

 

Lena frowned. She obviously couldn’t go alone, not on her first movie theater outage in, well...years, if ever. She couldn’t think of the last time she’d actually set foot in a movie theater. How did one do it? Were there assigned seats? Were you _required_ to buy popcorn?

 

She swiveled abruptly back towards her desk as her palms started to sweat at the mere thought of it all. With a short jab, she buzzed her secretary, Jess.

 

“Yes, Ms. Luthor?” came Jess’s usual calm voice through the phone speaker. Lena tried to let her it relax her.

 

“I need your help arranging something,” Lena spoke quickly, as if willing the words not to get stuck on her tongue.

 

“Of course, what can I help with?”

 

Lena hesitated for only a moment before forcing the words out. “I want to attend a movie.”

 

There was a several second pause on the other end, which only started Lena’s clammy palms up again. “Jess?”

 

“Ah, yes, of course Ms. Luthor,” Jess seemed to regain her composure, although Lena could hear the confusion in her voice. “When would you like me to get tickets for?”

 

“Tomorrow night. Say, around 8?” Lena bit down on her bottom lip, uncrossing her legs and firmly pressing her feet into the floor.

 

“And what movie are you wanting to see?”

 

Lena froze. Of course she had to pick a movie, that should’ve been obvious. But which one? What was even showing?

 

What had inspired this idea, anyway?

 

And then Lena remembered in a quick flash how she had bumped into Kara Danvers yesterday, outside of Lena's personal favorite classy coffee shop, come to think of it. She had been with her sister...Alex, maybe? Lena had caught them mid laughter and almost tried to elegantly dash away so as not to interrupt. Things like that, inside jokes, stories Lena wasn’t a part of always made her uncomfortable in a way she disliked and didn’t quite understand.

 

But that was another issue for another day.

 

Right now, Lena needed to get back to thinking about how Kara’s eyes had lit up upon seeing her, how she had practically yelled, “Lena!” and Lena herself had just enough time to catch the almost knowing smile on Alex’s face, why it was there she wasn’t sure, before she was caught up in one of the tightest and warmest hugs she’d ever had. Not long after, Kara had reintroduced her to Alex, and then explained that the two of them had just been to a movie, and how much she loved going, save for that unfortunate experience when as a child she'd been frightened of the popcorn machine. Kara had blushed and then laughed, her eyes shining as Alex had good naturedly teased her about it, and Lena found herself suddenly, inexplicably wanting to go to the movies, too.

 

 

 

“Ms. Luthor?”

 

“Yes, Jess, so sorry, just...browsing,” Lena felt her face heat up as she quickly tapped open a web browser on her desktop. She typed in “movies National City” and was promptly assaulted with quite a few titles with little times beneath them.

 

Lena’s brow crinkled as she tried to scan them for anything remotely interesting. She paused on one that began, “Sensual and savage, Lorraine Broughton is the most elite spy in M16, an agent who’s willing to use all of her lethal skills to stay alive during an impossible mission…”

 

It sounded ridiculous.

 

Lena chose it immediately.

 

“There’s a showing at 8:30?” Jess’s voice came back with an update. Lena murmured her consent, eyes wandering the rest of the description as Jess seemed to hesitate.

 

“Yes, Jess?”

 

“That would be...two tickets for the showing at 8:30 downtown?”

 

Lena’s mouth snapped shut. Shoot. The last crucial detail.

 

She pretended to ponder it for a few moments before rolling her eyes at herself and picking up her phone, clicking until she was dialing the number for her only true friend in National City.

 

“Hi, Kara?” Lena swore she heard a small titter coming from her desk phone as she spoke. She glared at it and then quickly arranged the details with Kara once the reporter had excitedly confirmed she was free.

 

“Yes, I’m looking forward to it as well, I’ll see you tomorrow at 8?” Lena couldn’t help the smile that broke across her face softly at Kara’s excitement whenever she suggested they do something together.

 

“Yep! It’s a date!” Kara chirped, then quickly hung up the phone after a slight pause.

 

Lena pulled the phone away from her ear slowly, turning to stare at it slightly.

 

Sure, a date. A friend date. Just two girlfriends, on a date.

 

Lena had never been so happy she had chosen to call Jess on the phone instead of just walking around the corner to talk to her.

 

“...got that, Jess?” Lena let her head fall forwards, setting her cellphone down gingerly and letting her hands touch her cheeks just once before she jerked back up and folded her hands in front of her.

 

“8:30, it’s a date,” Lena could hear Jess smiling as she spoke, but before she could say a word about it, the lined clicked off. Lena was left alone to swivel back to the window and try to figure out just what she had just done and why she was so, incredibly nervous about it.

 


	2. still not a date...mostly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took so long hello hello, please read and enjoy!!!

It was date night.

 

Or, not  _ date _ night, Lena berated herself. Just a night. A night time movie going excursion.

 

... _ Oh my god, Luthor, get it together _ , Lena thought angrily to herself as her driver paused outside of Kara’s office building. 

 

Lena was due to meet Kara outside of CatCo at 7:15pm sharp, giving them just enough time to hop into Lena’s car and make the drive across town to the theater. By just enough time, Lena realized after choosing the time that it was probably a bit  _ too _ much time, but at that point she was so anxious about the whole thing that the thought of texting Kara again was laughable.

 

(Jess had actually poked her head into Lena’s office earlier that afternoon at the sound of Lena releasing a strangled noise that somewhat resembled a laugh...just in time to see Lena fling her phone across her desk as if she had been burned. They both quickly pretended nothing had happened and Jess feigned having thought she heard Lena call for her before swiftly making her exit, chuckling into the lobby of the office as she went.)

 

As the car continued to loiter at the curb, Lena quickly shut down two different topics of conversation that Ray, her long held driver, attempted to start while they waited. As it ticked several long minutes past the agreed upon meeting time, Lena became more and more horrified about the entire thing.

 

What had she been thinking? She couldn’t do this. Not only because she was a Luthor (why she had tried to pretend that didn’t mean anything she couldn’t fathom now) but because...because…

 

Because of Kara.

 

Lena’s grip on her purse that she had continued to hold in her lap tightened at the thought of the other woman. She never let herself dwell on the anxiety that gripped her when she thought about Kara, how comfortable she felt around this person she’d known for so little time. Never let herself consider why Kara made her so nervous right before Lena saw her, or why she dwelled so steadily on the time they’d spent together when they were again apart.

 

Why sometimes, in the space between being awake and falling asleep, when it felt like you could imagine anything you wanted because you weren’t quite aware but just aware enough, Lena would imagine how it would feel if Kara was there. Wrapped in her arms, or very rarely, she wrapped in Kara’s, drifting into the darkness that came before a new day.

 

Lena blinked, staring once again back out onto the empty sidewalk, lit up in spots by streetlights here and there. Felt herself flush around her neck and cheeks at the innocent, but shockingly intimate thoughts that she could never quite get to go away. The harder she tried, the more they lingered.

 

Ray turned back towards her. “She’ll be here soon, Ms. Luthor.”

 

This time, Lena slowly released the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding and felt a smile gently spread across her face. “Thank you, Ray.”

 

He merely dipped his head once, then turned and faced forward. The sounds of the radio station he was playing (something top 40s, Lena could tell embarrassingly easily - never would it be known she was a fan of pop music) became marginally louder, and Lena felt one side of her mouth twist up at how Ray was trying to put her at ease.  

 

“Is that the new Selena Gomez song?” came a voice suddenly through the cracked window, and Lena visibly jumped and jerked her purse into herself with a wince. 

 

“Kara!” she laughed nervously, but she felt herself relax instantly at the fact that Kara had, in fact, actually shown up. As she slid over and Kara climbed into the car, Lena tried to ignore the way she felt simultaneously put at ease by her mere presence, while also as though her heart might climb out of her mouth at any moment.

 

“Hi!” the grin that spread across Kara’s face made Lena smile back automatically, setting her purse down in the space between them as a buffer, trying to calm herself down.

 

“Hey, are you ready?” Lena asked, before gesturing to Ray who started blinking to turn back into traffic.

 

“Yes, I’m so excited!” Kara seemed to vibrate in her seat, and Lena could only stare. She couldn’t quite place it, but sometimes it was as if Kara carried a different energy around her. It was as if she didn’t quite exist as everyone else seemed to.

 

Lena shook herself out of that train of thought, chalking her thoughts up to her general confusion around Kara.

 

Which she most certainly wasn’t admitting to.

 

“I’d heard of this movie, I tried to get Alex to see it with me the other day, when you saw us actually!” Kara was saying as Lena tried to focus again. “It looked really good, I  _ love _ Charlize Theron, but Alex thought it looked stupid, probably because she’s actually -” Kara seemed to cut herself off suddenly, as if she had just realized she was about to say something she shouldn’t. “Because she’s Alex. And sometimes she’s dumb.”

 

Lena laughed brightly as the sudden change of pace, and Kara visibly seemed more at ease than she had been moments before. “Well, I’m glad. Thank you for going with me. I haven’t been to the movies...well, I’m not sure if ever.”

 

Kara gawked at her. “Ever?!”

 

Lena bit her lip for a moment, trying not to look as uncomfortable she felt at Kara’s astonishment. She knew it was a bit odd to not have done something so...normal, she supposed, but she didn’t want Kara to think of her that way. As bizarre, or as someone she couldn’t relate to. Be friends with.

 

Nothing more, nothing less.

 

...Maybe one day she’d convince herself that’s all she wanted.

 

“Sorry, no I didn’t mean it weird or anything! I mean it is, a little bit, but mostly just it’s so much fun, I can’t believe you haven’t had a chance to ever go!” Kara was rambling, but the normalcy of it and the fact that she wasn’t horrified about Lena in general made Lena reach across the space and put a hand on Kara’s arm.

 

“It’s okay, Kara,” Lena tried to ignore the way her fingers felt like they burned at the touch of Kara’s skin, and she slowly moved her hand away. “I just...it wasn’t really a thing my family did.”

 

Kara seemed to understand without Lena having to say much more, and this time it was her who reached for Lena, grasping Lena’s hand in one of her own. “Well, I’m really,  _ really _ glad that I get to be the one to take you for the first time.”

 

Lena’s cheeks warmed again, and she ducked her eyes before looking up again and making eye contact with Kara. “Me too.”

* * *

 

When they arrived at the theater, Lena leaned down to tell Ray through the door that she’d call him when they were ready, and he mock saluted her and Kara, who saluted right back, before he chuckled and drove away.

 

“So…” Lena hitched her purse up on her shoulder and looked apprehensively at the theater. Now that she was here, all the confidence she thought that had come back seemed to begin to fade away again. Suddenly, she felt fingers wind through hers and Kara was looking down at her with a small smile on her face. 

 

“Follow me,” Kara’s smile turned into a bright grin as Lena glanced down between them before letting Kara pull her forward into the building. Thankfully, one thing Lena was confident about her ability to work a smartphone (technology and otherwise genius, please) and pulled up the tickets on her phone to show the ticket taker as there turn came to go in. 

 

“Theater 8, down the hall to your left,” she heard him say as she smiled absently and then trailed further in following Kara once more.

 

“Do you...should we get popcorn?” Lena asked as she spotted the concessions, almost choking on the words when Kara spun to face her before she had finished getting them out of her mouth.

 

“Should we get popcorn?? Lena, please,” Kara scoffed lightly, grinning to show Len was she wasn't really upset as she headed towards the bright display listing all of their food choices. Lena stepped up to the counter, steeling herself to speak to the person waiting there even though she didn't know exactly how it worked, but Kara gently but with surising firmness stepped up and nudged Lena aside. 

 

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it,” Kara said brightly, and then turned to the man waiting to take their order. “Hi! Can I please get a large tub of popcorn, two hot dogs, and three packs of M&Ms? The large ones, please.”

 

Lena stared. Also, she didn’t like hot dogs. 

 

Kara turned back to her. “Lena, what do you want?” 

 

“I’m sorry...what?” Lena managed to get out, while Kara just continued to smile at her, waiting patiently. “I’ll just...a small popcorn?” At Kara’s blinking at her, almost as if to say  _ that’s all? _ , Lena amended her order.  “And...a Coca Cola, please.”

 

“Oh! Yes, can I get a large orange soda too, please? Thank you!” Kara bounced on the balls of her feet as she handed her card to the man, waving Lena off as she tried to slide hers over instead. “The food is my favorite part!” 

 

Lena had eaten with Kara more than once and knew that she could tuck in a surprising amount, but this was a whole new level. Kara seemed to realize this at the same time as Lena started trying to calculate exactly how many servings of food Kara had actually ordered, and she suddenly looked a little apprehensive.

 

“I...have a really fast metabolism? Also, I went on a run earlier,” Kara rushed to say, the words “went on a run” sounding as thought they felt foreign coming out of her mouth. Lena checked the last of the boxes on her mental list she’d kept running regarding Kara’s….oddities, and simply smiled and reached for some napkins.

 

“Well, you must’ve worked up quite an appetite,” she said easily, and could heard the relieved rush of air that Kara breathed out.

 

“Yeah, totally,” Kara laughed nervously, but seemed to forget any unease a moment later when the man came back with a second person to carry all of their food to them.

 

“Thank you!” Kara took most of the items, waving Lena off again when she tried to help. Lena ended up only carrying the three packs of M&Ms, mostly so that Kara could start to eat the popcorn off the top as they found their way to their theater.

 

“Where do you want to sit?” Kara mumbled through a mouthful of popcorn, which Lena mentally smacked herself for finding as adorable as she did.

 

“Anywhere is fine,” Lena responded in a hushed voice as they walked farther in. The lights were dim but the screen was bright, and she was suddenly hit with a memory of having done this once before. 

 

She and Lex had gone to a movie once, when Lex was a teenager and Lena was still young. She couldn’t remember how they had ended up there or why they had never gone again, but she remembered the quiet awe she had felt, sitting in the theater with the story on the screen in front of her and her favorite person by her side.

 

“You okay?” Kara asked from where she had settled into a seat, and Lena realized she was still standing in the row she had followed Kara into.

 

“Yes,” she responded, trying to shake herself of the memory as she made herself busy setting her purse aside and trading the candy to Kara for her popcorn and soda. She felt Kara watching her carefully, and then there was an arm pressed up against hers as Kara settled herself against the armrest, leaning into Lena gently. Lena let her eyes slip shut for a moment, and when she opened them the feeling had abated, at least a little bit. 

 

“Thanks,” she said softly, and Kara smiled gently at her, giving her space to say more or say nothing at all.

 

Lena felt herself fall a little bit further, a feeling that was thrilling and terrifying all at once.

 

She turned away quickly to look up at the screen that was showing a commercial for some TV show she had never seen, before absently popping a piece of popcorn into her mouth.

 

“Oh my  _ god _ ,” she groaned out as the taste, and maybe she was too hopefully for something she could never have, but she thought she heard Kara’s breathe catch for a second at the sound. When Lena turned to look at Kara, though, all she saw was barely contained excitement.

 

“I know right??” Kara almost squealed, and it was then that Lena realized Kara was literally halfway through the huge tub of popcorn in her arms. It was hard to tell in the dim lighting, but she was pretty sure one of the packets of M&Ms was empty in the cupholder, as well. She rolled her eyes internally at Kara’s transparency, and then picked up another piece of popcorn.

 

“This is...amazing,” she said honestly, and then laughed as Kara tossed a piece into the air and caught it, turning proudly to grin at Lena. Lena let herself laugh loudly, and then hesitated only a moment before trying to do the same.

 

It bounced off her nose and onto the floor, but the laugh it pulled from Kara was worth any lingering embarrassment that Lena felt from doing something so foolish in public. 

 

By the time the movie started, the floor around them was covered in popcorn (mostly from Lena) and they had been shushed twice by the people behind them as the lights dimmed even further.

 

Lena couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so happy, and as Kara moved marginally closer to her as the music swelled, Lena’s breath hitched and she prayed that she could make it through the movie without her heart beating out of her chest.

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ....DONT WORRY next chapter will have all of the things that I've kept you waiting on ;)


End file.
